Bird project 3 - Long-tailed duck

2/101.
Clangula hyemalis Long-tailed duck

Location: Fairhaven Lake, Lytham-St. Annes, Lancs.
Conditions: Good. Light cloud, some warm-toned sunlight, fairly low in the southwest (early afternoon). Mild.
Photograph quality: 2.
Comments: A lone female that had already spent several days on the lake. Stayed far out, diving constantly, so manual focusing with extenders (up to 2800mm) was very tricky, as was relocating the bird each time it resurfaced.

Another uncommon species. This location gets a lot of interesting birds, being a locally rare (artificial) freshwater lake by sand dunes and an important estuary (the Ribble), whose tidal mudflats attract large numbers of migrants in the winter. I was fortunate that there were several other bird photographers there, who pointed out the duck, as I couldn't see it at first. Unexpectedly small - much smaller than black-headed gulls that were dotted across the open water - and quite elusive. I rather used a sledgehammer to crack a nut, putting all three extenders onto my lens, so I could get a reasonably close-up shot, rather than running round to the other side of the lake. The quality was therefore impaired, but the light was good enough to raise the photographs to level 2 quality, after considerable cleaning up.

The RSPB reports a wintering population of 11,000, but they aren't usually found in this area, so this was a bonus.